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In a new paper “Social Innovations for Economic Degrowth” for the renowned US journal “The Solutions”, Andreas Exner and Christian Lauk explain why money and markets necessarily lead to economic growth. They show which social innovations already are in place to overcome the growth impasse.

Peak oil will make degrowth highly desirable, and a shrinkage of economic output very probable.

This is recognized by many, but seldomly, the question is answered, how degrowth is possible.

A mode of production able to degrow and to enter a steady-state afterwards, Exner and Lauk argue, is characterized by

self-management instead of top-down management

solidarity instead of markets

autonomy from the state instead of state industry

This reorientation is practised in solidarity economies and the commons. It allows workers to orient themselves toward concrete needs, which can be satisfied, unlike profit production, and to reshape production, sorting out what is not needed or even harmful.

Such an economy without money would not be compelled to grow but could do what an economy in the Greek sense of oikonomia was originally meant to do: efficiently satisfy human needs for food, shelter, and cultural development.

they say, and conclude:

An economy that is able to degrow can also enter a steady state of constant production and consumption with low-level, highly efficient resource use. This could fulfill the very goal that the capitalist economy increasingly fails to serve: a good life for all.

A degrowth economy thus conceived would be highly resilient, firstly, because it would minimize vulnerability toward peak oil, secondly, because it would be based on reciprocity, trust and cohesion, making it flexible, innovative and adaptive.

One of the most prominent organizations in the field of emerging resilience research is the Resilience Alliance,

a research organization comprised of scientists and practitioners from many disciplines who collaborate to explore the dynamics of social-ecological systems

as is said on the website.

The group manages a blog on resilience issues called Resilience Science. The blog contains, for instance, a note on commons researcher and Nobel prize winner Elinor Ostrom, who died recently, and was a member. The many quotations in the blogpost illustrate the closeness of the group with commons thinking, which is indeed a vital link to be explored.